Jeremy Rifkin

The passenger on the PSA flight fidgeted through her briefcase and huffed at the window. You know the type. Even at 600 miles an hour, she was not going fast enough. Here, you should read this, it was suggested. She barely glanced at the jacket of "Time Wars." "Gee, ah, I just don't have the time . . . " she hurried to explain, her face wearing a look of you-know-how-it-is. Of course we do. Time enslaves us so exquisitely and completely that we rarely think to ponder it.

On Oct. 29, the leaders of the European Union's 25 member countries gathered to sign their first constitution. It still must be ratified by each nation's government, but the signing was, nevertheless, a highly significant moment. The people of Europe are now more united than at any time since Rome's golden age in the 2nd century.

Jeremy Rifkin has another "big idea," which he describes in great detail in his new book "The Age of Access: The New Culture of Hypercapitalism Where All of Life is a Paid-For Experience" (Tarcher/Putnam, 2000). Rifkin, the author of other big-idea books such as "The End of Work" and "The Biotech Century," is the preeminent master of overstatement. His books, nevertheless, are fascinating insights into long-term economic and cultural trends that he covers in encyclopedic detail.

Jeremy Rifkin has another "big idea," which he describes in great detail in his new book "The Age of Access: The New Culture of Hypercapitalism Where All of Life is a Paid-For Experience" (Tarcher/Putnam, 2000). Rifkin, the author of other big-idea books such as "The End of Work" and "The Biotech Century," is the preeminent master of overstatement. His books, nevertheless, are fascinating insights into long-term economic and cultural trends that he covers in encyclopedic detail.

By now most news-watchers, and some who ignore all the news they can, have been at least dimly exposed to the idea that the rich representation of meat in Western diets is a banner of regress rather than progress, a priority that has disastrously skewed both our own agriculture and the choices of developing nations.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. In "The Iceman Cometh," the anarchist character Hugo Kalmar cries out that once the revolution comes, "we will eat hot dogs and drink free beer beneath the willow trees." Well, the technological revolution has come. Everywhere, computers and other electronic machines are enhancing human capabilities, making work more productive and eliminating heavy lifting.

Environmentalist Jeremy Rifkin said he has delayed filing a suit against the Agriculture Department to allow it to reconsider its licensing of a genetically engineered swine vaccine. On Tuesday, in response to a Rifkin petition demanding the license be suspended or revoked, the department announced a two-week suspension of the vaccine's license in order to do an environmental impact study. The vaccine would be used against pseudorabies, a sometimes-fatal swine virus.

Federal Suit Over Cow Drug Is Dismissed: A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., has ruled that anti-biotechnology activist Jeremy Rifkin and 14 farmers lacked jurisdiction to bring suit against the U.S Department of Agriculture and the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board. The suit contended that the agency and the board were unlawfully promoting bovine somatotropin, a synthetic hormone--that has not been approved--designed to increase cows' milk production.

An animal disease called pseudorabies has reached epidemic proportions among the nation's herds of swine. The disease, caused by a herpes-like virus, is almost always fatal in pigs, so the effect on the food supply is serious and growing. In response, Biologics Corp. of Omaha has produced a vaccine called Omnivac-PRV. What's interesting about this vaccine is that it is made by genetic engineering.

Jeremy Rifkin, who has single-handedly and single-mindedly waged war against biotechnology, has used the courts in the past to block important research and experimentation in genetic engineering. Fortunately, his luck seems to have run out. A few weeks ago U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell in Washington dismissed two of Rifkin's suits against biotechnology and cleared the way for this work to proceed.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. In "The Iceman Cometh," the anarchist character Hugo Kalmar cries out that once the revolution comes, "we will eat hot dogs and drink free beer beneath the willow trees." Well, the technological revolution has come. Everywhere, computers and other electronic machines are enhancing human capabilities, making work more productive and eliminating heavy lifting.

Shares of agricultural biotechnology pioneer Calgene took a drubbing on the stock market Monday in response to reports that Campbell Soup, one of Calgene's primary supporters in the development of its genetically engineered tomato, was backing away from its commitment. Calgene characterized as "inaccurate and misleading" a report from the activist group Pure Food Campaign that Campbell Soup was withdrawing its support--a potential blow to both Calgene and the fledgling ag-biotech industry.

By now most news-watchers, and some who ignore all the news they can, have been at least dimly exposed to the idea that the rich representation of meat in Western diets is a banner of regress rather than progress, a priority that has disastrously skewed both our own agriculture and the choices of developing nations.

Federal Suit Over Cow Drug Is Dismissed: A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., has ruled that anti-biotechnology activist Jeremy Rifkin and 14 farmers lacked jurisdiction to bring suit against the U.S Department of Agriculture and the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board. The suit contended that the agency and the board were unlawfully promoting bovine somatotropin, a synthetic hormone--that has not been approved--designed to increase cows' milk production.

So maybe I didn't read much Tolstoy in college. Maybe I went untutored in the fine points of Descartes and other philosophers. At least my academic career here at Cal Poly was not a complete waste. At least I got to stick my arm inside the stomach of a cow. The animal in question was what is called a fistulated cow. It sported a tidy, and painless, porthole in one side. We searchers of higher knowledge were instructed by our animal science professor to snap on plastic gloves and stand in line.

A biotechnology critic on Wednesday announced that five large supermarket chains have said they will not sell milk from cows treated with a genetically engineered growth hormone. But two of the chains, Vons and Safeway, say their position on the experimental bovine growth hormone, or BGH, is nothing new. "It's not really an issue for us," said Vickie Sanders, spokeswoman for the El Monte-based Vons chain. "We buy milk from one source and the source doesn't use it."

Shares of agricultural biotechnology pioneer Calgene took a drubbing on the stock market Monday in response to reports that Campbell Soup, one of Calgene's primary supporters in the development of its genetically engineered tomato, was backing away from its commitment. Calgene characterized as "inaccurate and misleading" a report from the activist group Pure Food Campaign that Campbell Soup was withdrawing its support--a potential blow to both Calgene and the fledgling ag-biotech industry.